by Jojo Moyes
The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes newest novel takes us on a
historical journey into the backwoods of Kentucky in the 1930’s. In this
period, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had begun a horseback librarian program that
would give access to library materials and increase literacy among the remote
inhabitants of the Appalachian Mountains. Often it was the women of Kentucky
who stepped in to ride the horses and deliver the materials to the mountains,
in all weather and across all terrain.
Our story takes place in Baileyville, Kentucky and follows
the challenges of the courageous women who volunteer to take up the pack horse
library work. Margery O’Hare heads the motley crew. She has lived in the
mountains her whole life, knowing the routes like the back of her hand. She is
an independent woman for the time, refusing marriage to her long time love, and
shucking the societal rules women were to abide by in the 1930’s. She further
goes against the grain when she hires Sophia, a woman of colour, to help
organize the library itself. This presents its own challenges in a time when
segregation was still rampant.
Also quick to volunteer is Alice Wright, newly married, freshly
arrived in Baileyville from England. She is an outsider in the town with her
strange accent and domineering father-in-law and jumps at the chance to escape
her house and explore the mountains with the library program.
Two younger girls, Izzy and Beth make up the ensemble, and
bring their own reasons for joining in. Each of the women is looking for
something new and exciting, and the packhorse librarian troupe does not
disappoint.
Naturally, the library is welcomed by some and frowned upon
by others. However, the little town did not count on the strength of the women
undertaking to bring books to those without. They bravely fight against racism,
poverty, danger, and nature to carry out their duty heroically with kindness
and compassion. Based on historical facts of the pack horse program and the
struggles of the 1930’s Kentucky mountains, this is an enduring tale of
friendship and camaraderie that takes this small but dedicated group of women
far beyond what they thought they were capable of.From the author of Me Before You, set in
Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and
their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her
stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally
claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So
when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor
Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking,
self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They
will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse
Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of
loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed
by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a
landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re
committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming
them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is
unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking,
enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel
of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond
our grasp for the great beyond. From the author of Me Before You,
set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women
and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her
stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally
claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So
when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor
Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking,
self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They
will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse
Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of
loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed
by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a
landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re
committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming
them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is
unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking,
enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel
of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond
our grasp for the great beyond. From the author of Me Before You,
set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women
and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her
stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally
claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So
when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor
Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking,
self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They
will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse
Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of
loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed
by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a
landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re
committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming
them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is
unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking,
enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel
of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond
our grasp for the great beyond. From the author of Me Before You,
set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women
and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her
stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally
claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So
when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor
Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking,
self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They
will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse
Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of
loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed
by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a
landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re
committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming
them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is
unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking,
enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel
of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond
our grasp for the great beyond.From the author of Me Before You, set
in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and
their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.
Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her
stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally
claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So
when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor
Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking,
self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They
will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse
Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of
loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed
by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a
landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re
committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming
them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is
unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking,
enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel
of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond
our grasp for the great beyond.
by Lisa Jewell
Flipping
between past and present, this weaving mystery/thriller follows the story of a
beautiful mansion in Chelsea and what happened behind closed doors. On Libby
Jones’ twenty fifth birthday, she receives an inheritance from her dead
parents: a multi-million dollar mansion in Chelsea. Shocked at her reversal of
fortunes, she excitedly takes possession only to discover a series of
unsettling mysteries surrounding her birth parents and the people they kept in
their home. Twenty-four years prior, her parents had been found poisoned along
with an unidentified body while Libby’s ten-month-old self lay happily cooing
in a crib.
Who
was the unidentified body? Who reported the dead bodies? Who was taking care of
baby Libby while her parents lay dead? As these questions begin to be answered,
more questions arise! Full of unreliable narrators, misdirection, and suspense,
The Family Upstairs keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way
through. As the story weaves between past and present, and between character
story lines, Jewell leaves just enough of a cliff hanger that you are desperate
to get back to that thread thus making for a very fast read!
I
loved how this book started with what seemed like four or five completely
unrelated stories, each interesting on their own, and managed to work them
together tighter and tighter until they all connected. A well crafted mystery,
in my eyes, ties up all the loose ends in a satisfying way, and I feel that
happened in The Family Upstairs.
If
you like this style of mystery thriller, I would recommend The Wife Between
Us by Greer Hendricks, or anything by Liane Moriarty.
